


I Can See You

by GhostGirlJezz



Series: Some Side Characters No One Has Ever Heard Of [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Non Cannon Compliant, Short, Thor Ragnorok Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 10:52:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15241791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostGirlJezz/pseuds/GhostGirlJezz
Summary: *Takes place slightly before Thor: Ragnorok*Hulda Hall - or Hulda Son of Heimdall - is either an Asguardian in hiding, or going through a phase of teenage rebellion. Nobody is sure, especially not him. He's been living on his own in Midguard for a while, and wants nothing to do with whatever is happening with dad - not even when he gets a visit.





	I Can See You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not an expert in Marvel Cannon. I created this character for an RP group forever ago. While I don't participate in the group anymore and won't be using really anything that happened there, I thought Hulda was a pretty interesting character that I wanted to play with. This is practice for me with introducing a character into a wider and more well-established universe.  
> Thanks for the read, and I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing it!

Hulda kept his head down. He  _knew_  what would be there when he looked up. That dramatic son of a bitch would be sitting in the light rail seat across from him as if nothing was wrong and he wasn't somewhere in a different realm with a different life that H wanted nothing to do with. He played with his phone, determined not to give him the satisfaction of surprise. He had felt eyes on him for hours now, known that he wasn't hidden anymore. 

He switched apps a few times, just making himself look busy. He could feel those gold eyes boring into him. He wouldn't look up. He wouldn't look up. He wouldn't -

"Son."

God dammit he looked up. Before he could think to refuse, his head had snapped up at the sound of his father's voice. He resisted the dull ache in his chest and did his best to school his face into something disinterested.

Heimdall sat across from him, leaning forward with is elbows on his knees and his hands clasped before him. He wasn't in his usual armor, but draped in dark rags that looked as if they hadn't been washed in weeks. There was a haggard look to him. Hulda had seen bags around his father's eyes before, but not like this. He looked more like a specter than a god - less like He Who Sees All and more like He Who Has Seen Too Much. Worse than that, even, was the obvious -  _Sadness? Fear? Helplessness? -_ concern in his voice and in his posture and written all over his face. 

Hulda met his eyes for a moment. The second he felt the rush of fear and anxiety that would break his cool expression, he looked back down at his phone. "Been a while," he said. His stomach was in knots but his voice was cool, thank god. "Where's the bling?"

The scolding  _"humph"_ that he had expected didn't come. Instead, the momentary silence that slipped between them felt like a knife. Hulda desperately needed something to fidget with. He slipped a coin from his sleeve and started absently walking it across his knuckles. When he glanced up again, he found Heimdall frowning at the train floor between them. He looked like he was picking his words carefully. 

"I need you to come home." 

It was so quiet that Hulda could almost have told himself that he had imagined it, but he swore there was an element of pleading in his voice. It wasn't a command, like it had been in the past. He was  _begging_. That wasn't something he thought he was ready to accept. Instead, he said, "If this is anything like last time, I'm not interested." He leaned back in his seat and leveled what he hoped was a disinterested glower at the man. "I'm not coming home just to be the court laughing stock again."

Heimdall held his gaze. "That's not why we need you back."

The coin slipped from his hand, landing with a dull _clink_. "We? What's going on?"

"In short?" He shook his head with a bitter chuckle. "Loki's assumed Odin's identity, taken over the throne, and exiled me for treason when I confronted him about it."

In that no-nonsense way Heimdall had of delivering hard truth, Hulda's life had just been twisted out of his hands. Why was talking to his father always like this?

"I... I don't know what you want me to do about that." His voice sounded hollow to his own ears. He was thoroughly shocked out of his nonchalance. 

"You were his friend as a child. You could speak to him, you could -"

"That was a long time ago. Centuries. He wouldn't even remember me." 

"Loki remembers everyone."

"He wouldn't remember me enough to care. Look, I don't know what it is you want me to do about him. Thor would be a better bet to stop him or fix him or whatever it is you want me to do."

"Thor is... away. And in any case he has to come to that conclusion on his own. I don't want you to stop him or anything drastic, just minimize the damage. You were always good at directing his mischief."

Hulda huffed. "There's something else."

"Is there?"

"You didn't go to all this trouble to find me just to have me play babysitter. You saw something."

He tightened his jaw in response. 

"I'm not doing anything until you tell me what you saw."

"I can't."

"Dad -"

"For the sake of my oath to my king, I can tell no one what I know."

There was a certain absolute authority in his voice that always made Hulda's chest constrict. "Is... Is Odin dead?"

He shook his head. "No. No, he is alive for now. But, Son, you need to come home."

Again, that knife of silence slid between them as Hulda looked to the floor, to the coin he had dropped. The train began to slow. As if from a great distance, he heard the over-pleasant announcement of the next stop. He couldn't deal with this right now. Asguard was not his home anymore and Heimdall knew it. He could feel the momentum slowing beneath his feet. 

"I know this is hard for you. And I am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused you in the past. But please..."

Hulda used the last of the train's momentum to raise him to his feet, weightless for just the barest moment. He balanced on the balls of his feet to roll with the backward lurch as it came to a standstill. "I can't." He forced himself to turn away from his father. "If you can't tell me what I'm walking into, then I won't take the risk." He started to walk with the flow of people. "I'm not an Asguardian anymore and you know it."

Even as he said it, even as he stepped off the train, even as he looked back through the window and watched his father dissolving away, he knew he would regret that. He already did. 

He regretted a lot of things. 


End file.
